We’re almost at the halfway point of The Great Balkans Road Trip. We’ve been to Romania and Bulgaria. Today it’s North Macedonia and Kosovo. Then we’re back on the road to Serbia before ending up back in Romania. If you’re joining the trip late, you can catch up on the story so far here. Dear reader, you’re in for a treat today, as was the best day of the whole trip. Breakfast at the Hotel Solun This was the best breakfast we’d enjoyed so far – which wouldn’t be matched until our five star…

Lurks should be a training video for the Intergalactic Federation of Planets called “What NOT to do if you crash land on a mysterious alien planet” because the protagonist does so many things wrong. You would think that she has never watched a horror film before – and this trope-laden animated short by ESMA graduation students deliverers them one after another (after another). Now, reading back, that doesn’t look like much of a plug for this, but I found it immensely entertaining (although I…

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet... ...The great news keeps coming from the Warner Archive Collection. In addition to a long list of films coming out in late July and early August, another batch of Blu-rays has just been announced for August 18th. Titles include John Ford's THE WINGS OF EAGLES (1957) and SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (1960), plus appealing films from Warner Bros. and MGM such as TORRID ZONE (1940), ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT (1942), and THE HUMAN COMEDY (1943).…

This week I finally caught up with a film which has long been on my "to watch" list, BLACK WIDOW (1954).BLACK WIDOW isn't the 2021 Marvel movie, which I saw and reviewed upon its release, but rather a '50s murder mystery with a terrific cast, including two top-drawer leading ladies.In a story which is at times rather reminiscent of ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), ambitious young Nancy Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN) comes to New York and works her way into the circle of several…

On the premiere of Project Runway season 22, the network and producers doubled down on all that made season 21 such a wreck.

Randolph Mantooth, best known for playing paramedic Johnny Gage on the classic television show Emergency!, died on July 9, 2026, at the age of 80. The cause was complications from pneumonia.Randolph Mantooth was born Randy Mantooth on September 19, 1945, in Sacramento, California. His father was of Cherokee and Seminole descent. By the time he turned 18, Randolph Mantooth had lived in 24 different states. His father was a pipeline construction engineer, so his family moved frequently. He acted…

Another translation comparison! This one, by David Isaacson, is of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, and it’s a good one — not, for the most part, focused on how the Russian is rendered, but on what makes Chekhov work in English. Some snippets: I can think of no other drama that has so many interpreters. Big name playwrights (David Mamet! Heidi Schreck! Conor McPherson! Annie Baker!) are eager to try their hand at it. Correct me if I’m wrong, dear reader, but I don’t think that’s generally the case with…

I own a book entitled The Five Great Novels of James M Cain, anthologising The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Butterfly, Serenade, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity. I’d only read Serenade, which I loved. After really enjoying Tay Garnett’s POSTMAN, I thought I should read more. I didn’t want to read a novel I’d just […]

Beatrix is on the banner for this year’s summer show at Circus Juventas, Whimsy. There are still tickets available. So, if you’re local you should come see Beatrix in her final circus performances before she heads off to college.

Why the heck didn’t I hear about this movie before? It is… Well, I wouldn’t know how to define it. But I liked it, its weirdness, its meta, and its story. And the cast, wow! Rating: ❤️Hey, thanks for reading my blog via the RSS feed! Feel welcome to get in touch!

Obsession 2026, Curry Barker My rating: Loved it! One of the best (if not THE best) horror movies I’ve ever seen! Nikki is probably the most terrifying character I’ve seen in a movie, and so much of it is due to Inde’s acting and the amazing sound design. This is Curry Barker’s first movie and I can’t wait for the next ones.

A Texas flag and an American flag flap in the wind outside of 2525 Stemmons Freeway in Dallas. The post One Star/Fifty Stars appeared first on 75CentralPhotography.

What's Up, Doc? (1972)

As a longtime member of Disney's D23 Club, I've had the opportunity over the years to attend some fun advance preview screenings of Disney films.Those experiences have included TANGLED (2010) on the Disney Studios lot and CINDERELLA (2015) at the late, lamented AMC theater at Downtown Disney.Earlier this week I attended my first D23 advance screening in quite some time, a preview of Disney's new live-action version of MOANA (2026) at the AMC in Orange, California.I'm as tired as anyone of…

As action in that other competition heats up, our gladiators will square off this Sunday to kick off the Nagoya Basho. (I would not be surprised if a lot of sumo wrestlers are pulling for France in the World Cup. It looks like they had a lot of fun last month in Paris.) The biggest … Continue reading Nagoya 2026: Preview

After Drag Race All Stars' penultimate episode, Marshal Knight has questions: Is this rigged for Crystal? Why was the talent show just lip syncs? And have you ever prolapsed a carrot?

Just one recording today starting with the end of Sam and Mark’s Guide to Dodging Disaster. There’s a trail for Comedy Doubles. Then it’s Shaun the Sheep – In the Doghouse. Bitzer hears a party going on in the henhouse, and goes to break it up. He lets go of the balloon, and it flies off to stick in front of the farmer’s tractor, impairing his vision. He runs over Bitzer’s doghouse. He tries to repair it, but it’s not a success. Bitzer gathers up his bundle and goes to wait for a bus to take…

As the summer stands between us and the awards season to come, Cláudio Alves and Juan Carlos Ojano discuss some of this year’s new Oscar rules, focusing on their beloved Best International Film race. Visar Morina's SHAME AND MONEY became the first film eligible for the Best International Feature Oscar this season, when it won the World Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. CLÁUDIO: Much was said about the Oscar rule changes when they were first announced at the beginning of May,…

This was scarier than I expected from its 50-year age. And it wasn't from the gore! Sure, Leatherface is scary, but he wasn't the main thing making me recoil. The scary and suspense and disgust and fear was shoved into me by the disturbing characters: the unhinged and understated hitchhiker conversation, the gas-man with half a broomstick and deranged words of encouragement. Most of the film is shot from chest-height or lower, which made me feel like I was constantly cowering and hiding behind…

Last week's post on rubber-legged comic Leon Errol and Mel Brooks, as well as the previous one on The Three Stooges, has profoundly immersed this blog in the pratfall-packed world of slapstick. We've been heavily into Slapstickland, both silents and talkies, for the past three months. After all, this blog devoted a bunch of posts back in 2013 (which now feels like 1913) to The Columbia Shorts Department and Jules White. Mike Glyer's 2023 article The Rivals Of The Three Stooges, covers the stars…

Always the way of it - really scraping to find something to go to some days, then more than you can watch are on the schedule, but also, a thing theaters have been showing previews for is not coming out unless you want to spend twice as much time traveling to see it as watching it. Just a couple years after the original animated film (itself only ten years old) had a pretty successful sequel,

Image source: IMDB One of the running themes of my writing has been re-examining long-held assumptions about movie history. I have a bleeding heart for panned films and a skepticism towards broad claims. If you’ve dipped your toes into silent cinema, you’ll likely be familiar with “common knowledge” about controversial pioneer DW Griffith. “Griffith invented close-ups/tracking shots/[insert favorite cinematic convention here]!” “The Birth of a Nation was the first feature film! The first epic…

The kid in me, who watched the original Little House on the Prairie on the days I was home sick from school, wants to call her “Ma.” Grown me, who sees the sweet, romantic scenes in promotional images and video, knows she is Caroline, more that just “Ma.” So, I will be calling this hat […]

“Our doubts are traitors / And make us lose the good we oft might win / By fearing to attempt.” Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (Kelly and I saw it at the Old Globe yesterday) Sign my Guestbook | Contact Me | Book office hours | Share

Things I’ve liked this week: buttondown.com/things/ar…

I'm with my in-laws this week, and they like their classic television. One of the shows they've added to their "rotation"1 is MacGyver, the classic 1985 TV series2 starring Richard Dean Anderson, created by Lee David Zlotoff and Henry Winkler3. You might be familiar with the term "MacGyvering something" but maybe you didn't know it came from this TV show. The premise: Angus MacGyver's main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with…

The Last Starfighter (Mad Cave) #1A Taurin Clarke Regular Release: Jul 01, 2026 Mad Cave Creators WriterDeric A. Hughes | Benjamin RaabArtistWilli RobertsCover ArtistTaurin Clarke Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada! There were three main things that dominated the summer of 1984 for me. Two of them were movies. The other was a person, though that person was in one of those two movies and was a big part – but…

Val Kilmer in Kill Me Again (1989) Vitals Val Kilmer as Jack Andrews, cynical private investigator Nevada, Spring 1989 Film: Kill Me Again Release Date: October 27, 1989 Director: John Dahl Costume Designer: Terry Dresbach WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Background This summer’s Car Week wraps with Kill Me Again, John Dahl’s little-known (at least to me, before last year) 1989 neo-noir thriller starring the late Val Kilmer and Michael Madsen opposite Kilmer’s then-wife Joanne Whalley as a dangerous…

Ah, so you think I’m going to talk about the dance called Tango; but no, this time I’m going to talk about an album called “Tango”, by those two towering figures of Argentine rock, namely Charly García and Pedro Aznar. Now, you’re reading this and you’re probably asking yourself, why? As Simon Sinek once said, start with why: why, why, why does this guy always talk to us without talking to us. Why, why, why. Well, I’ll tell you why. Because I am talking to you. More precisely, I’m talking to…